The Fates Have Decided
by fortheloveofawerewolf
Summary: Can an imprint be broken? When Kaliska moves to Forks, Washington, she is let in on the Quileute tribe's secret. However, she and her imprint don't get along as well as the tribe had hoped... I love playing with the ideas presented by the whole werewolf-imprint-mythology things in the books, so enjoy this story that challenges the Fates' decision
1. Chapter 1 - me

Yes, another new story... I'm trying to get the rest of the stories on my profile wrapped up, I promise!

This one is a little bit slow at the beginning but I'm really excited for what comes after! I have the first few chapters written, just gotta edit them. It starts getting interesting around chapters 4-6, so stick around for those!

Setting: it's after Bella is engaged to Edward, everything has kinda settled down for now. They're waiting on Bella's graduation for the wedding still.

Chapter one - me

I always knew about the Miwok legends and traditions, but after I left the tribe with my father, I begin to lose sight of what I grew up knowing. I started forgetting the stories and instead was immersed in the hustle and bustle of Western society. When we finally found a place in Forks, Washington, near my cousin, I was mostly apathetic about living so close to another tribe of natives.

Let me start at the beginning. When she was 19, my Miwok mother fell in love with a white boy while he stayed in a cabin near our reservation with his family. They made some mistakes, aka me, but before I was born, he had to go back to where he came from.

Cut to fourteen years later, when my mother died of the illness that passed through our tribe. The tribal leaders tracked down my father to come take care of me, and instead of moving to the res, he took me with him on his travels.

My dad is a traveling journalist, but now that he has to provide for his kid, he decided to settle into a real job and found a police position in Oregon. We lived there for a couple years, but now he's being transferred into Forks, where his uncle, Charlie Swan, is the chief of police. Uncle Charlie made it clear that he'd hold my dad to the exact same standards as he holds all the rest of his officers.

So now, I'm living in Forks, Washington, spending weekends painting my room and weeding our yard. Our little house is a place I know I'll love - one thing I didn't forget from growing up a native was a love and respect for nature, and that includes the space our house sits on. My dad thinks it's a waste of time since we may not live here long, but I love spending my time outside, even if the sun never shines here and it never stops raining.

Since we live right on the county border, I had the option of going either to the res school or the school in town. Even though my cousin was a senior at the school in town, I chose to attend the res school. I'd be surrounded by people that I have at least some things in common. School starts in one week and I'm anxious to begin.

My dad tells me I'll make plenty of friends, and I hope he's right. Even so, I remember the taunting all of us half-bloods got in the res schools. Maybe I can keep it quiet that I'm only half native.

I should probably introduce myself. My name is Kaliska, I'm 16 years old, and I'm new to Forks, Washington.


	2. Chapter 2 - bella

Bear with me through this chapter, I promise it gets better soon! Just some more setup in this one, getting to know Kaliska etc.

Chapter two - bella

When I first met my great-uncle Charlie and his only daughter Bella, I instantly liked them both. Both are very awkward and have a hard time keeping up a conversation, but all in all they're good people. I noticed the engagement ring on Bella's finger and kept a lookout for any pictures of the guy around their house, but didn't see any.

We hung out at their house for awhile and ate dinner, and by the time we left, it was dark. I listened to my dad talk about the last article he'd written from Oregon and looked out the window into the dark trees. I started thinking about the stories from so long ago and imagining what it would be like to be one of the spirits, flying through the trees faster that our car drove. I was snapped from my daydreaming as I caught the tail end of a question my dad asked me.

"Sorry, what?" I blinked. He laughed.

"Distracted by the trees again?" I nodded, smiling. My dad and I got along very well, even though I'd never met him until a few years ago. My friends from California were shocked that I'd trusted him so easily, but I don't see why. He hadn't known about me until they found him after Mom passed, so how could he have been there for me? Ever since then, he's given me everything in his power to help me live my best life.

We pulled into our driveway and I hopped out, slamming the door. He reminded me for the thousandth time to close it gently and I rolled my eyes, trying not to smile.

"I think I'm gonna hit the hay, pumpkin. You staying up?" He asked me.

"Not for long, I have a lot to do tomorrow. Might read some of the books Bella gave me though." I looked at the three she'd handed me. They were all about Quileute legends and traditions, she said they'd help me to understand more of what I'll see at the res school.

My dad nodded, yawning. We said our good nights and he went upstairs while I curled up on the sofa in the living room. The curtains were still open and I squinted through the foggy glass. I mentally added cleaning the windows to my to do list. Outside, my bucket full of weeds collected water during the light drizzle. It seems to rain here every night, but I've come to like the dampness. Just then, I caught sight of an animal moving just inside the tree line. I looked closer, trying to see an outline of it. As far as I could tell, the animal was just a wolf, but bigger than any I've seen before. It was a good looking animal, light grey with darker markings. I felt the urge to go outside and take a closer look, but came to my senses quickly. This is a wild animal, and I can't expect it to be tame. I am not a spirit warrior, nor could I survive an attack.

The wolf stalked off and I returned to my reading. As I felt my eyelids growing heavy, I closed my book and went up to my room. I curled up on my bed and turned on some music, tapping my fingers on the mattress along with the rhythm. I heard the wind rustling the trees outside and the rain hitting the roof. All is well in Forks, I fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3 - school

Now we get into the plot and get to know more of the characters. Meet some new wolves, I did a little research to find some good Quileute names before realizing that most of them have Biblical or modern names... it's fine tho... The chapters will get longer from here on as well.

Chapter three - school

The last week before school flew by, and before I knew it, it was the night before my first day. My dad could sense my nervousness, and suggested we go get ice cream from the diner down the street. I immediately agreed.

"I'll have a double scoop of mango sorbet, thank you." I passed my menu to the waitress as my dad ordered his usual, one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate. She took our orders, welcomed us to Forks and left.

"Looks like almost everyone knows we're new here," my dad said, taking his jacket off and laying it over the back of his chair. I nodded.

"I'm kind of hoping the res doesn't know I'm only half native so I don't get picked on in school."

"I'm sure it'll be fine, and if you have a hard time, you can always switch to the county school. Bella is only a couple years older than you anyway."

"I know. It would be nice to get to know the tribe though, I might fit in there." I shrugged. Our ice cream was delivered and we stopped talking to eat it.

On the drive back home, I planned out my outfit and what I would bring in my backpack for the first day of school. I felt like a little kid freaking out so much about my junior year, but this really would be the first impression the town and the res has of me, so I want to make it a good one.

XxxxxxxX

I ran out the door and jumped into the car with my dad, hoping to the gods that we'd get to school on time. I kept checking my phone to make sure I wasn't late yet, until my dad took it out of my hands and put it on the consul.

"Stop panicking, Kaliska. I'll get you there in plenty of time." I rested my fidgety hands on my legs until I could feel the dampness of my palms through my jeans. I had five minutes to spare when I jumped out of the car and ran into the administrator's office, slightly out of breath. She looked up.

"Hello, you must be one of our new students?" She squinted through her foggy glasses at my face.

"Yeah, I'm Kaliska Koehler, I'm a junior." I told her. I hate saying my last name out loud, so I rarely do. Even though I like my dad, I don't like the way his last names sounds with mine. It's weird to hear it from my mouth now.

"Ah yes, Kaliska. Welcome to the reservation. Here's your class schedule, a classroom map and slips for each of your teachers to sign. Let me know if you need any help or any adjustments by the end of this week." I nodded, took the paperwork and yelled a thank you as I ran to my first class.

The door closed behind me just as the tardy bell rang, and the entire class turned to look at me. I went to the front of the room to have the teacher sign my slip, and held my breath, hoping he would just let me go.

"Oh you're new to the area? I'm sure you don't mind introducing yourself to the class." I nearly groaned. I turned around, waving my hand at the room in general.

"Hi, I'm Kaliska."

"Your last name?"

"I don't use it. It's just Kaliska like... Zendaya, Beyoncé or Oprah."

A few people in the class laughed, most rolled their eyes and I heard one person snort under their breath. I ignored it, took my slip and sat down on the edge of the room, near the window.

"Alright class. Today we'll go over the class syllabus and I'll explain your coursework..." I tuned out immediately, only listening to the last ten minutes so I could hear what the assignment for tomorrow is.

The rest of my classes were equally if not more dull. I introduced myself, I heard two other people introduce themselves, I completed other classes assignments during all the spare time I had, and by lunch time, I was ready to eat and walk around. I looked around the cafeteria, scanning for the best place to sit.

Eventually, my eyes landed on a table with two friendly looking girls that I'd sat near in two of my classes. Sitting with them was a loud group of boys who seemed decent, so I walked up and tapped one on the shoulder.

"Hi, can I sit with you guys?" I asked her quietly. She smiled and nodded.

"Kalisa, right?"

"Uh, yeah Kaliska. What's your name?"

"I'm Kim, this is Shayna." Shayna waved at me from the other side of Kim. I smiled back.

"Where are you from?" Kim asked me. I shrugged.

"I moved here from Oregon but originally I'm from Miwok in California. That was my tribe." I explained. Shayna looked sad.

"What happened, why did you leave?"

"Long story, basically my dad, who isn't a Miwok, took me with him when he moved to Oregon. No hard feelings with Miwok though." Shayna nodded solemnly.

"Well welcome to the Quileute res, where are you living?"

"I'm about ten minutes away, not quite on the res but pretty close. Didn't want to go to the white school though." I started eating my lunch, and we turned our attention from our chat to the boys sitting across the table. Kim whispered to me,

"These are the guys. My brother, Chesmu, my boyfriend Jared, Brady, Collin, Elliott, Hisaka, and Seth." I nodded, knowing full well that I'd forget all of their names immediately.

"They must spend a ton of time working." I comment, raising my eyebrows. Kim laughed nervously.

"Yeah... they're really into bodybuilding." I disregarded the odd tone of her voice and listened to the wild stories they were telling. Anytime one would tell it wrong, another would take over, and it was so entertaining and confusing that I forgot about my food. I went to take a drink of water right as Seth started talking, and when he started imitating one of the group's older friends, Paul, I lost it and choked on my water. I tried spitting it back in the cup but ended up trying to force it down, and even after I thought I'd swallowed it, I kept coughing. The stories stopped and a couple guys had smirks on their faces, but mostly looked vaguely concerned. Kim patted my back but was giggling as well, and by the time I was okay, I looked up, tears in my eyes and made eye contact with Seth. He was grinning.

"It's a good impression isn't it." I rolled my eyes and agreed.

"S-sorry guys, I'm fine." I said hoarsely. One of them snorted and slid a fresh cup of water across the table to me.

"Welcome to the gang, K. I didn't hear your whole name so that's what I'm calling you." I smiled at him and drank the water.

"Thanks, I have no idea who you are." I said sheepishly. The guys introduced themselves again, one by one, but after the first two, they were talking over each other again so it was just as hard as the first time around. The one that gave me the water smirked, finally looking at me.

"Im Hisaka, and this is our insane gang, welcome-" He stopped talking as his eyes met mine. I smiled my thanks and looked away from his confused glare. His behavior changed drastically from that point, and I tried to ignore the way I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my head. He was quiet for the rest of the meal, and when we started getting up and clearing the table, I saw Jared smack the back of his head with a laugh. He growled - yes growled, and shoved Jared away, stalking off silently. I frowned.

"He's a bit moody today, ignore him." Shayna told me. I nodded, pulling out my schedule to see what was next.

"I have gym next, what about you?" I asked her. She pouted.

"Bio. Ew." I laughed and patted her shoulder.

"How bad could that be? Just dissecting various animals that have been dead for who knows how long." I shuddered. I hear white schools dissect anything, from frogs to sheep brains. My tribe would never disrespect animals that way. She seemed to agree with me, as we parted ways.

In gym, I saw Collin and Elliott, who made their way over to me, waving and standing near me, like two gigantic bodyguards. Elliott was a team captain for volleyball, and after picking Collin and one other guy, picked me. He hi fived me as I passed by, giving me a wink. Even though there hasn't been any conversation, I feel better knowing they'll have my back. I smile to myself.

Gym was a blur of motion, mostly me thanking the gods that I've been active my whole life and could keep up. After gym I had math and then I was done for the day. I headed out of the building wondering if I should wait a half hour for my dad to pick me up or if I should just walk home.

"K!" I heard someone shout behind me and I turned around to see Hisaka jogging up. I smiled.

"Hey Hisaka." I say as he gets closer.

"Hi, I wanted to apologize for being so weird earlier. It's been a day, I'm not usually weird." He tells me.

"It's okay," I shrug, "I don't normally choke either." He laughs.

"Cool. So, you walking home or what?" He asks me. I squint at the clouds.

"Doesn't look super rainy so I think I'll just tell dad I'm walking."

"Nice. Care for the company of a dashing young dude to protect you?" He gestures to himself. I smirk and shrug again.

"Sure, where he at?" He rolls his eyes and grabs my backpack from my hand, swinging it on his shoulder.

"Right here, for your viewing pleasure." He winks. I roll my eyes.

"Okay, if it's no extra trouble."

"Nah, I like to get in some extra cardio anytime." He flexes his biceps for emphasis.

"You know walking doesn't work out your arms, right?" I tease.

"Duh, just showing off here." He laughs. I laugh along, and let the conversation die down a little bit. I try to keep an open mind by he's a little bit off putting so far. He speaks again,

"So, you didn't really tell us what brought you to Forks."

"Yeah, uh, that was kind of on purpose. I don't really wanna talk about that." I say, hoping he'll drop it."

"Oh come on, you can tell me. What's going on?"

"I mean, it's not that big of a deal. I just moved with my dad when he got transferred here." Please leave it...

"Transferred here? What does he do?"

"He's uh, he's a cop." I say quietly.

"Huh, could've sworn we only have white cops though." He looks at me sideways and I ignore the statement.

"Are you white?" He asks. "I mean, it's not a huge deal if you are, but like, are you?"

"Half white. My mom was native."

"Was?"

"She died a couple years ago. My dad got custody of me then." He looked even more lost.

"Wait.. what the hell?"

"My mom met him when he was visiting our res on vacation, he knocked her up and took off, not knowing she was pregnant. She had me and died when I was fourteen, so they figured out who my dad is, contacted him and he took custody of me. We left California and moved to Oregon and then here." I explain. So much for keeping it on the DL.

"...gotcha. So you're half white." He says. I nod. "And you grew up native so that's why you're not at the white school." I nod again. He nods to himself for a second.

"I got picked on in school a lot for being half so I don't wanna spread that fact around." I tell him, hoping he'll keep it to himself.

"Mhm. Cool, well I won't mention it."

"Thanks."

We walked the rest of the way in silence, and when we got to my house, he handed me my bag back.

"Thanks for walking me home," I said, starting to turn for the door.

"Yeah sure, anytime." He made a move to leave but stopped.

"Hey, I was thinking... would you wanna go out sometime?" I froze.

"I uh... just met you... today..." I didn't want to make eye contact with him... gods! This is so awkward.

"Yeah, I'd like to get to know you though. You know, casual." I turned around.

"Yeah, sure. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." I heard his voice but didn't make out what he said before I closed the door behind me. Gods! What did I do?


	4. Chapter 4 - hisaka

This is the part that the story gets more juicy. Trust me, it won't go as you think it will. My goal is to build up the story to be a big dramatic thing but it needs some setup first, but the setup is almost over, I promise!

chapter four - hisaka

Hisaka ran up to take my backpack from me again the next day at school, and walked me to class. It was sort of sweet that he did that, but also made me uncomfortable sometimes. It was my second day and I was already getting weird looks from people. Hisaka would just stare them down til they looked away, but that only made it worse.

"Hey, so uh. About our date, I'm thinking movie, does that sound good?" He asked out of the blue. I was caught off guard.

"Uh yeah, totally. Movies."

"Dope. I gotta get to class, bye K!" He tossed my backpack back at me, and I caught it on autopilot. I looked after him in shock, reaching behind me for the door. I snapped to my senses and went inside quickly before the bell rang.

I got a couple more glares from girls in my class, but Kim was there to help alleviate the pressure.

After class, she came up to me.

"So, I hear you and Hisaka, huh?" I try to smile and nod at her. She hugged me. "I'm so happy for you! Now you'll REALLY be a part of the pack!" I frown.

"Pack?" I thought they called themselves the gang? Kim blinked.

"Yeah sorry, pack, gang, same diff. We call them both sometimes, you know." I nod. She grinned again.

"We're having a bonfire tonight, you should come! Hisaka always gets the guys around and comes up with a set of dares for them to do, last one standing wins. It's so fun!" She claps her hands.

"Yeah, I mean totally. I'm in. When and where?" She gave me a piece of paper with directions written on it and a time. She must've written it during class.

"Don't forget, and it's casual so like shorts and T-shirt. Can't wait!" Jared came up then so she was distracted while I stuck the piece of paper in my bag. She told me yesterday that she and Jared had been dating for three months, and are getting married after they graduate in May, so I guess things just move fast here. I've known Hisaka for a day and we're going on a date tonight apparently. I shrug. Could be worse I guess.

I headed to my next class, glad to get some free space after seeing him and Kim all morning.

XxxxX

Shayna saw me at the bonfire right when I arrived and walked up.

"Hey Kaliska. Welcome to your first bonfire."

"Thanks Shay, looks fun."

"Mhm, Hisaka already explained the dares for the night, so the guys are all getting warmed up now." She gestured to the gang smacking each other around and doing various exercises. "First dare is a chicken fight in the ocean. They're all paired up."

"In the ocean? It's like 60 degrees out!" I gasped. She hesitated.

"They'll be fine, they all run warm." I frown. So far I'm concerned more than anything. She quickly changes the subject. "But there's a bunch of stuff after this, stick around! It's so fun!"

"Yeah, I will. Looking forward to it." I answer.

And it does turn out to be fun. I laugh from the shore while the big beefy morons knock each other into the water, holding towels ready for the latest losers. After that, they do a race, although oddly enough, three come back wearing different shorts than they started in. The last few dares were intellectual, riddles, brain teasers and trick questions centered around the Quileute legends. It was all fun and goofy, and when Brady raised his giant arms in triumph, everyone cheered. I met more of "the pack," including Jacob, who was friends with Bella, Quil, Embry and Paul. I didn't meet Sam, he was busy with the older men, but he reminded me of my uncle from Miwok, who helped my mom raise me. I knew I'd like Sam. By the time Hisaka made his way over to me, I'd had a beer and plenty of food. I was getting tired and ready to go home. He bumped my shoulder, making me jump.

"Hey, you having a good time?" I nodded, smiling. I felt like I should spend at least a little bit of time with him, so when he asked me to go on a walk with him, I agreed.

Forcing my feet to move in a line was somewhat difficult considering my alcohol tolerance is low, and I drank the beer way too fast. If he picked up on it, he didn't mention it.

"So, I'm really glad you came tonight. I hope you had fun." He started.

"Yeah, it was fun to watch everyone do the dares. I had a great time."

"Good. I mean, I'm also really glad you came tonight because I wanted to talk to you."

"Okay, what's up?" I asked warily. He took a deep breath.

"So... have you heard about the legends? About werewolves and the cold ones?" I nod slowly. What kind of a conversation could he possibly be leading into?

"Sooooo, they're true. All of them. All the guys in the pack are werewolf shapeshifters, along with Leah Clearwater, Seth's older sister."

I stopped walking, swaying a little.

"Okay. Okay, cool." I nod slowly, thinking more. My foggy brain processed the information and I looked up at him. "Okay, you're a shapeshifter." He frowned.

"That's it? You believe me? You're not gonna make me prove it or anything?" I shake my head.

"I grew up native, of course I believe legends start as facts."

We started walking again and he reached for my hand. I look at him.

"What are you doing?"

He stared back. I tripped on something while we walked and he immediately caught me and set me upright.

"You don't know about imprinting." He stated.

"Imprinting?"

"Yeah. Like the fates picking out your mate for life. The shifter looks into the other one's eyes and bam, it's like soulmates."

"And you imprinted on me."

"Yeah. That's why I was weird that first day."

"You mean yesterday."

"Yeah... yesterday. Ever since then, it's like you're my new center of gravity or something."

I frown. I didn't sign up for this. I'm confused and not sure I'm on board.

"Okay. So what does that mean for me?"

"It means we're together for life. Just you and me, baby." He says, grabbing my hand. He swings it between us as we walk and I pretend to trip again so he'll let go. I put my hands in my pockets and he catches me again.

"Are you drunk?" He asks.

"No... just a little tipsy. I should get home."

"Okay, let's head back." He turned around and I walked a couple steps behind him, watching the ground as I walked and pondering the situation.

"There you are!" Emily called out when we circled back to the bonfire. "We served dessert, but there might be some left."

"Thanks Emily!" Hisaka called. He brought me over to the dessert table and picked up a slice of pie that was left, eating the whole thing in two bites. "Damn, that's really good." He mumbled, reaching for more.

"I gotta get home." I remind him. He nods.

"Yeah one sec. I'll be right there." He walked off to talk to Sam, then Jacob and Brady came up, starting a conversation. I sat down next to Leah Clearwater while I waited.

"Hey, I'm Kaliska-" I began, smiling. She nodded silently, making clear she didn't want to talk. She took a long swig of her beer. I nodded to myself and looked back at the bonfire. I don't know where Hisaka went but he he's not back soon, I'll just go home alone. It's not a far walk, I walked over here.

"Hi Kaliska, I don't know if you remember me. I'm Chesmu." I jumped slightly as another guy sat next to me.

"Hey, nice to meet you again." I smile at him. He's cute, with big brown eyes and a soft jaw, giving him a young appearance.

"Hisaka told me you need to get home, he had to go take care of something. Want a ride?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah sure. Thanks." I look around to see if Hisaka was still here. When I didn't see him, I looked back at Chesmu, and saw his face go from sympathetic to friendly.

"Ready?" I nod.

"Let's go!" He walked me to the woods, and right before I asked, he said,

"I'm gonna go shift into a giant wolf, I'll be right back, okay?" I frown.

"I thought you were gonna give me a ride?"

"Yep," he grinned, already peeling his shirt off. "On my back." As I gasped after him, jogged into the woods and less than a minute later, a huge wolf came back out. It - or he - came up and head butted my shoulder, knocking me off balance and grinning at me as I snapped to my senses.

"Yeah, okay, giant wolf." I whispered to myself, reaching out to grab ahold of his fur. He lay down on the ground and I climbed onto his back, leaning forward and wrapping my arms around his neck. "Okay, I'm ready." I said, locking my hands together. He nodded his massive head and turned in the direction of my house, starting at a brisk trot and then picking up speed until we were whizzing last the trees.

Just a couple days ago I had dreamed of this, feeling the air swirl past me as I went faster than I thought possible.

This must be what it's like to be a spirit warrior, and not for the first time since hearing the legends, I wished I could experience it for myself.

We arrived at my house in just a few minutes, just slightly faster than if we'd driven. As I loosened my cramped fingers and slipped off, the ground seemed to move under me. It had been a terrifyingly awesome experience and I couldn't wait to do it again. I patted Chesmu's neck and he trotted off. I wasn't sure if he was taking off or if he was just going to change back, so I stood at the edge of the trees for a couple minutes before realizing he was gone. I brushed my pants off and climbed over the fence into my yard, making my way around to the side door.

When I went inside, I heard my dad in the kitchen and went to wash my hands.

"Kaliska, is that you?" He called, and I went around to say goodnight.

"Yeah, hi. Just got back." I told him, filling a glass with water.

"You're back a little earlier than I thought you'd be. Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, it was really fun. I had a beer, so I didn't want to stay out late." I told him. He dried his hands off on his jeans.

"Just one, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, but I drank it too fast. One of my friends dropped me off here." I assured him. I guess that's true, I was indeed dropped off.

"Okay honey, just be careful for me, deal?" He held his fist out and I bumped his knuckles.

"Deal. Thanks dad."

He smiled at me and I yawned before heading up to my room.

That night, right before I fell asleep, I heard a tap at my window. Thinking it was just a tree, I ignored it until it came again. I peeked through to curtain to see Hisaka clinging to the edge of our roof, standing on a tree limb. I gaped at him for a moment before reacting, opening the window a crack.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in a whisper.

"Being romantic. Open the window so I can come in." He told me, and after a second of not coming up with a reasonable excuse not to, I opened it and he slipped inside.

"What are you here for?" I asked, suddenly conscious of my flimsy pjs. He let his eyes run up and down me, licking his lips.

"Just to see you. I wish I could've brought you home but something came up." I nodded.

"Wolf stuff."

"Yeah wolf stuff. I asked Chesmu to bring you, he did right?"

"Yeah he did, it was really nice of him." He nodded.

"Good, good."

"Sooo, you just came to make sure I got here?"

"Yeah, yeah I guess. I was kinda hoping.. ah never mind. Too soon for that." I frowned.

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know, maybe a kiss or something. But it's fine, probably too soon to expect that." He shrugged and looked at me like he wanted me to prove him wrong.

"Oh... okay. Yeah it's a little soon." I agreed.

"I mean, it usually takes like a week or so for the imprint to be fully on board and it's only been like two days."

I didn't respond to his statement, leaving an awkward silence. He cleared his throat.

"Yeah so anyway, just wanted to make sure you got here alright. I'll get going now."

"Okay, thanks for checking." I said, smiling. "I do appreciate that."

He shrugged.

"Just my job. I'll catch you later, K." He climbed out my window and jumped down to the grass below, and as I looked out, I saw his landing footprints and winced. I'll fill those dents in tomorrow and hope the grass grows back.

He ran to the tree line to phase, taking off from there in his wolf form. I had to admit, the wolf thing was pretty cool.

I could get over my reservations and just embrace it like the rest of the imprints do.

Or I could demand my own fate, see if my Miwok blood awakens something inside me...

I shook my head, that's crazy. Just a Dream that was destined to stay a dream.

I closed my window and went back to bed, having a hard time falling back asleep. I pictured myself whizzing through the forest like I had earlier and finally fell asleep with a smile on my face.


	5. Chapter 5 - first absence

We're finally getting into the plot here! I hope you stick around, this story will probably be on the longer side, I have a ton of plot ideas to make it really interesting and not-your-average-imprint-story.

Please please please leave me a review! It takes less than 5 minutes and you don't need an account :))

chapter five - first absence

I woke up the next morning groggy and late. I took a three minute shower and threw on the first outfit I could find. I ran out with wet hair and jumped on my skateboard to get to school. Dad left for work early today so I was on my own.

I don't remember much of the events of that school day, it's mostly just a blur in my brain. All I remember is actively avoiding Hisaka all day. Any time I'd see him, I'd step into the bathroom, or down a hallway or start talking to someone else. I don't know if I should feel bad but right now I just don't want to deal with him.

Of course, I couldn't keep him at bay forever, and I committed to plans on Thursday to go to the movies, as his promised date.

I'm just hoping that he doesn't try to kiss me or anything.

XxxxX

THURSDAY:

Our date went surprisingly well, considering how much I'd been dreading it all week. Hisaka picked me up, paid for our tickets and popcorn and sat us in the middle of the middle aisle, so I knew he intended to watch the movie and not make a move on me. I relaxed into the company and was absorbed in the movie. Afterwards, we shared our thoughts and found that we agreed on much of the controversial issues presented.

I actually had a great time. I said goodnight to him with a smile and went to my room cheerful. Before going to bed, I decided to do some much-needed yoga to calm down to go to sleep. I put earbuds in and rolled out my yoga mat.

My dad had laughed when I asked him to buy it for me, but since then has gotten used to it. He knows that doing yoga brings me a lot of peace and puts me back in harmony with the nature I love so much. I'd never even heard of yoga til we moved to Oregon, but then again, there were a lot of firsts that year. First haircut - my mother believed in keeping it long, first pair of yoga pants, first phone, basically everything white people grow up with that the Natives often don't find value in. Now I struggle with remembering my roots while taking full advantage of the world around me.

I truly hope that if it's my fate to be with Hisaka for the rest of my life, I should embrace that life. Not all of me is on board yet, but after the good time we had tonight, I think it might be the start of something great.

Friday, however, was a nightmare.

To start with, I slept in through first and second periods. I guess my yoga calmed me down a little too much. Then, none of the wolves were at school, and after that, I flunked the pop quiz my bio teacher gave us. I went home that afternoon ready to scream and cry.

I debated texting one of the wolves to give me a ride through the forest to relax me, but that presented three issues: 1, it would probably be inconvenient for them, I wouldn't want to ask them to. 2, the only wolf I've run with is Chesmu, and something tells me Hisaka would be pissed if I asked him. 3, I'd have to give Hisaka a rundown of everything that was crappy about my day and why I'm in need of a ride.

Instead, I decided to just go for a run on my own.

I put on some athletic gear and took off, letting the sound of my footfalls break up the chaos in my brain.

I'd probably run a mile when I turned back in the direction of my house.

I shouldn't have been spooked when a giant wolf bounded out of the woods in front of me. I nearly screamed before remembering it was most likely one of my friends.

"Hi-hey, uh... who is that?" I asked, feeling like it was a bit of a stupid question. The wolf seemed to think so too, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, right. You can't talk. I'll list off names then and you tell me which one is you. Does that work?" The wolf rolled his eyes again, coming up to me and nudging me in the direction of the woods. "What's going on?" I ask, again feeling stupid for forgetting that he couldn't talk.

Once we were under cover of the trees, the wolf shifted back into a person, and I reflexively covered my eyes.

"Relax, it's me." A female voice said. I frowned.

"Leah? Oh, sorry, I forgot you're a wolf too." I stammered, taking my hand from my face, but still averting my eyes.

"I don't care if you look. Sam sent me to make sure you're out of the woods, there's a rogue vampire that's right on the edge of the res and since you're an imprint, you're under special protection, so I'm escorting you back to your house. Get on my back." I nodded, looking up just in time to see her phase back into a wolf. She crouched down and I climbed on her back, smiling to myself as I realized I'd be getting a lightening-speed ride back to my house after all.

My smile faded quickly as I realized Leah runs significantly faster than Chesmu. Or maybe Chesmu was taking it easy on me to be nice, but Leah doesn't care. I kinda love that about her.

When we got back to my house, Leah shifted back to tell me to stay inside until further notice, and then phased back before running into the woods again.

I squinted after her, and she seemed to be running even faster than she was before, with me on my back. I shook my head and went inside.

Dad wasn't home yet, so I went upstairs to work on my homework. I'd only gotten half of it done when my phone lit up.

Kim: Hey Kaliska! this is Kim:)) got your # from Hisaka

Kim: do u need anything? i know its hard being stuck inside when your man is out there fighting:( if u need anything, i can help out! ;) ;)

I squinted at the messages. First of all, I don't remember giving Hisaka my number. Second of all, who uses that many emojis and punctuation? I put my phone down again and focused back on my homework, but got distracted thinking about "my man." I guess it should bother me more that his life is on the line right now. I mean, he's 18. But then again, he does transform into a giant wolf... it's still weird to think about. I envy the wolves. Not the fighting part, since I generally stay away from conflicts, but the wolf and running through the woods part. I wish I had some of those abilities.

I went back to my homework, wanting to get it all done before the weekend. I hadn't heard from Hisaka since our date last night, and I'm not sure if he's just busy or ignoring me. Either way, that's really not my priority right now.

Still, with what I've heard about imprints, I feel like I'm supposed to be feeling more anxious right now...


	6. Chapter 6 - weird

**This is the part where the plot starts, if you've gotten through the first couple chapters and are still interested, thank you! I appreciate your time:))**

 **cdeanda34: thank you for your review! I actually live close to Miwok Village, so I wanted to use the tribe in my story. I don't know very much about them, to be honest, but I wanted my story to be a small tribute to them. You'll see in this chapter how the Miwok legends are important to the story;)**

XxxxX

It started out as a normal day. I slept in on Saturday morning, did some yoga, went for a run and showered. Dad was gone when I got out of the shower, so I went to get some groceries.

"Kaliska?" I heard a vaguely familiar voice. I looked up.

"Oh hey, sorry, you're Chesmu right?" I cringed. Of course he's Chesmu, he's probably the nicest wolf on the rez, why do you have to be like this?

"Yep, what are you up to?" He asked.

"Getting groceries, we have almost nothing to eat right now." I explained, gesturing to my cart.

"Cool, me too. Except I'm just here for pop tarts and jerky." He held up his basket with at least 8 boxes of pop tarts and just as many bags of jerky. My eyebrows went up. "Yeah, it's a lot. We have to eat a ton of food. Takes a lot of energy to be a wolf." He said quietly. I nodded.

"Well, I'm just about done here, so I'll see you around I guess?" I said, grabbing a box of cereal from the shelf and tossing it in.

"I'll walk you to your car, that's a lot to carry by yourself." He offered. I smiled.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm actually walking home. I don't have a car."

"Your mom sent you to get food by yourself without a car? How are you getting everything back there?" He looked confused.

"I uh... I guess I hadn't thought it through the whole way." I admitted. "And I don't have a mom, it's just me and my dad."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I just assumed... Either way, I'm going to help you whether or not you like it. That's too much for one person to carry."

"Thank you, I live pretty close but I was dreading the walk back."

"No problem at all, you can just think of me as your transportation from now on." He laughed, and I smiled at the sound.

"Aw now I feel bad for using you."

"Don't! That's what we do here on the res, we help each other out." He leaned closer to whisper, "Plus it's kind of my job to help keep the res safe and stuff, so if it makes you feel better, I do get paid to be a wolf." He winked. I laughed.

"Okay, that does make me feel better. Alright, I'm done here." I wheel my cart towards the checkout and we both pay for our food. Chesmu takes the majority of the bags and leaves me with just two, although I have the feeling he could've taken all of them if he didn't think that would make me feel bad.

We joked around as we walked down the street to my house. I've enjoyed hanging out with Chesmu, and if it weren't for the imprint and the whole meant-for-Hisaka thing, I could see myself with him.

Thinking of Hisaka almost makes me feel guilty for spending time with one of his friends, but I realize I'm not doing anything I wouldn't do with anyone else, it just happens to be Chesmu. We get to my house, and I open the door for us.

"There you are, K. I came to hangout. What are you doing here, Ches?" Hisaka startles me and I see my dad look surprised. He knows about Hisaka, but I've never mentioned any of my other friends, let alone another guy.

"Uh, hi Hisaka..." I stammer. Why do I feel guilty? I haven't done anything...

"Sup Hisaka, Kaliksa, where do you want these?" Chesmu asks me. I look around. There's a weird energy in the room and I want to make it go away, so I gesture to the tiny kitchen.

"You can just drop them here, I'll put them away." I tell him. He nods and follows me into the kitchen, putting my bags down carefully. He walks back into the front room and I hear him introduce himself to my dad. This is weird... I can tell from his stance that my dad is uncomfortable too.

"I'm gonna head out now, nice to meet you, Mr. Koehler. It was good to see you, Kaliska," He waved at me as he moved towards the door. I waved back, and he left.

Only half of the weird energy was gone, though. I don't know what to do when both my dad and Hisaka are here. So I stay in the kitchen putting away groceries and cleaning anything that could possibly need cleaning. Eventually, Hisaka came in.

"Hey, what's going on? Are you avoiding me?" He asked quietly, but his words feel like an accusation.

"No!" I reply far to quickly. "No, I'm not. It's just kinda weird to see you and my dad together, I don't know how to react."

"Why should it be weird? We're kind of a thing." He motioned between us.

"I'm not saying it should be, it just... _is."_ I try to explain, gesturing vaguely with a sponge in my hand. He rolls his eyes.

"Get used to it, it's not the last time I'm coming over." He tells me. "Do you want to hangout or should I just go home?"

"I uh... I have a lot of homework I need to get done..." I'm floundering and it's obvious.

"It's Saturday."

"Yeah, I try to keep my Sundays open for... yoga and exercise..." I don't know why I'm still talking. He puts his hands up.

"Okay, I get it. I'll see you on Monday then." He walks out of the kitchen and I follow, stopping just outside the room.

"Nice to meet you, Hisaka." My dad says, barely looking up from his book. Hisaka doesn't acknowledge him as he walks out the door.

"Well, he seems nice." My dad says blandly. I slump down on the couch next to him.

"Yep."

XxxxX

Later that night, I find myself cleaning my room nervously, half expecting Hisaka to show up at my window, half of me knowing I'm not going to see him until Monday. I (obviously) lied about the homework, as I'd gotten all of it done already and don't want to work any further ahead.

I need some more friends. I consider texting Kim, but she's started getting on my nerves with her house wifey-ness. My other girl friend, Shayna, never gave me her number so I don't know how to get ahold of her.

Really, the only other person I'm 'friends' with is Chesmu, and I'm pretty sure it would cause more problems to try to get his number. I flop on my bed and start scrolling through my old photos.

I decide I want to print these out and put them in an album to look at when I'm feeling like this - bored and lonely. I make a note to myself and start favoriting the ones I want. I almost laugh out loud when I see a picture of me and my dad at a boba place for the first time - right as I was taking the selfie, he took a drink and a boba pearl hit him in the back of the throat. I smile, realizing I'm not alone at all.

I go downstairs.

"What's up, buttercup?" My dad asks, his glasses sliding down the end of his nose as he types away at his computer.

"Not much. Actually, not anything, I'm really bored." I admit. He looks up.

"Who was the kid who you were coming back from the store with?"

"Chesmu? He's uh..." I suddenly remembered something. "He's my friend's brother. I told you about Kim, right?"

"Oh yeah, the one that's getting married, right?"

"Yeah, her. She introduced me to him on the first day of school, and then I ran into him at the store, so he offered to help me carry everything back here."

My dad nodded.

"He's a good kid. I don't know about that boyfriend of yours, though. He's kind of a punk."

I stop myself from nodding in agreement. If I'm stuck with Hisaka as my soulmate, and my dad can't know about the wolves, I have to find some way to make my dad like him, or at least convince him that I really like him.

"He was kind of weird today, but he's usually a lot nicer. He organizes a bunch of activities whenever the pack gets together for a bonfire."

"The pack?"

"Yeah, that's what they call themselves. It's just a bunch of guys and their girlfriends." I explain. Now I realize why Kim was so weird about calling them the pack around me before I knew.

"Huh. Okay, just be careful you don't get mixed up in anything, they are high schoolers, and high schoolers have a tendency to be idiots." He warns me. I roll my eyes.

"Dad..." If only he knew just what they were 'mixed up' in...

"I'm just saying... be careful, Kaliska." He tells me, smiling. I nod.

"I promise I will, dad." I've started getting tired now that my nervous energy has worn off. I say goodnight and head back up to my room.

My bed welcomes me now and I curl up under the blankets with a smile. It was a weird day...


	7. Chapter 7 - vampire

**I'm really excited about this chapter! As always, please leave me a review and let me know what you think!**

XxxxX

I'm running out of things to clean on Sunday. I still haven't heard from Hisaka, and don't have an excuse to go to the res to hang out. I open up my laptop and looked at my assignments. I could work in advance, but I don't really want to right now. I close the lid.

Instead, I went outside. It was sprinkling lightly, but for La Push, it was a pretty decent day. I decided to explore the woods around my house and see how far the property goes.

I looked around, the trees made it difficult to see very far. I close my eyes so I can hear everything, the birds, the trees rustling, the - my eyes snap open. I looked around me. I distinctly heard someone's footsteps. I turn in a full circle, before catching some movement out of the corner of my eye.

I turned to face them:

"Hello?" I call out, hoping they'll answer me, but not really expecting them to.

"Hey." I hear a feminine voice and turn around again.

"Sorry," I laugh nervously. "You scared me." I still haven't been able to catch more than a glimpse of movement.

"I didn't mean to." She laughed, and I was both comforted and terrified further by the sound.

"I'm Kaliska, what's your name?" I ask, pretending like she's not acting like a serial killer right now.

"I'm Regina, nice to meet you." She tells me, and a chill runs down my spine.

"Where are you?" I ask quietly. With a sudden rush of wind, she stands in front of me, only a few inches away from my face.

"Right here, darling." She nearly growls at me, and I see her blood red eyes.

Fuck, that's terrifying.

I take a step back and tell myself to breath. Chesmu told me that red eyed pale people are almost definitely vampires, especially if their skin is ice cold.

I reach out to touch her arm and quickly recoil.

"Vampire." I whisper to myself, not really meaning to say it out loud. My entire body is trembling in fear and I know that I can't outrun a vampire. She sneers at me, probably knowing exactly what's going through my head.

I run anyway. As fast as I can, anywhere that's not here. I run as she laughs from where I left her standing. I know I can't outrun her, but that doesn't mean I'm going down without a fight. I run towards the Quileute border, hoping that _someone_ is on patrol nearby. I scream as I look back and see her running after me.

And then I trip. Not looking where I'm headed, I trip over something right as I'm reaching the riverbed, which means I'm going to fall about 15 feet into the rushing water below.

I'm falling, and then suddenly, I'm not. I don't know what the hell happened, but I'm upright again and tearing down the riverbank. I hear her confused "what th-?" as I run, and it's that moment that I realize I'm not who I think I am.

I'm running... on four paws... PAWS? Since when?

I don't have time to think about it now, I just have to get the fuck outta Dodge. I can hear heavy animal footsteps coming up behind me, and I realize that must be the boys. I just have to last long enough for them to catch up with her.

I run across the water, she leaps over the whole river. I duck under a fallen tree, she jumps over the top of it. I consider trying to run up a tree, but I don't know what I can do, and she could probably follow anyway.

The wolves are getting closer, I can see the rustling trees as they run through them. I'm almost there. I've almost made it...

I yelp as she grabs for my tail, managing to dodge out of her reach before her hand closes. My heart is beating out of my chest and I see what looks like a water tube coming up. It's just small enough for me to fit through, and long enough that I can't see the end. I aim for that and dart in, where she can't follow me.

I hear her cursing as she sees the wolves gaining on her, and she takes off. The wolves stampede past my hiding place and I catch sight of the few wolves I've seen, Leah, Hisaka and Chesmu. The rest I don't recognize. When everything is quiet, I move out of the tunnel, keeping my eyes peeled and my ears focused on any noise.

Silence.

I'm still terrified when I crawl out, and I finally take the time to look around me, unsure of where I've run to.

Also, what I am. Am I a werewolf? I'm significantly smaller than the rest of the wolves, which would make sense if girl wolves are a lot smaller, but Leah is the same size as the rest of them. I start walking back in the direction I came from, clueless about where I am, what I am, how I got here, what happened to my clothes, and how to change back into a person.

Eventually, I come to a house that I recognize from the bonfire. Who lives here?

Emily. Sam's girl. I hadn't met her, but this is where all the food was coming from. Speaking of food, now I'm starving. I go up to her porch, wondering what I should do. I decide to wait til someone comes up. There's no way a small wolf of some kind would be able to talk to Emily, I'd need to communicate with another wolf. If only I knew how.

I curled up to rest on Emily's porch, and eventually fell asleep.

XxxxX

I woke up to someone screaming.

"It's a coyote!" Emily says, pointing in my direction. I jump up to my feet, looking around. Where? I turn to look where she's pointing, but all I see is trees.

I turn around. Sam jogs up, looking at me strangely.

"I saw that one, when we were chasing the leech. She was chasing it. I wonder how it found its way here." He says, and it hits me. _I'm_ the coyote.

What the fuck?

He is still staring at me, and I look around awkwardly. I can't talk, and I can't change back, so now I'm just waiting for something to happen.

"Why isn't it running away?" Emily asks, coming up behind him. Sam shakes his head.

"I don't know, it looks like it wants something."

I jump down from the porch and use my nose to try to write in the dirt of their yard. I take a couple steps back and look at my work, which looks like 'kal:ste.' I look back at Sam and Emily, who are talking now and not paying attention to me anymore. I bark-cough at them, a little weirded out at the sound. They look back at me, squinting.

"Oh my god it wrote something." Emily says, taking a step closer. She looks at the word. "I don't... I can't tell what it says." She looks at me. "Are you a person?"

I nod my head.

"Someone we know?"

I shrug. I don't know if they've heard of me. Sam frowns.

"Are you Quileute?"

I shake my head.

"Are you new to the res?"

Nod.

"Do you know the pack?"

Nod.

"Are you an imprint?"

Nod.

"Kaliska?" Emily says breathlessly. I'm so happy to hear my own name that I sort of bark again. This is weird, I don't like this. Emily still looks shocked and Sam looks confused.

"Why are you a coyote?" He asks nobody in particular. Emily comes down the porch steps to sit.

"Are you stuck as a coyote?" She asks gently. I feel embarrassed as I lower my head and nod slowly. Sam laughs and I do my best to scowl up at him.

"I-I'm sorry, Kaliska. I just remember being in the same situation the first time I phased. Lucky for you, we have some people that can help you. Do you want me to go get Hisaka?" He offers. I shake my head violently.

"How about Leah?" Emily asks hesitantly. I think about this, and nod slowly. Leah's a girl and she doesn't care so she won't be weird about it. Emily gets up to go into the house, and Sam stays to talk to me.

"I'd like to talk to you some more, Kaliska. About all of this, and what it means for you and the pack. Especially because you're an imprint." I nod. "Obviously not right now," he says quickly, and I roll my eyes.

"Leah's on her way, she was about to go on patrol anyway. She'll meet you here and you can go out into the woods if that'll make you more comfortable. She's also bringing a change of clothes." Emily tells me, and even though I'm not human right now, I can almost feel myself blush as I nod again.

This is so weird...

Sam and Emily chat for a bit, telling me about things happening on the res, but I'm not really listening to them as I wait for Leah to get here. As soon as I hear her huff, I jump up and turn around to face her.

"Oh my god she's tiny." She says, almost laughing. "I don't know what I was expecting, but she's literally so small." Emily starts to say something, but Sam just puts his hand on her arm and takes her into the house.

"Alright, coyote, let's go." She says to me, gesturing to the treeline with her head. I follow her as she walks into the trees. I feel even smaller before standing next to Leah. I start to regret asking her to come help me. Then again, it's basically either her or Hisaka, and I'm not ready to talk to him. Leah's voice interrupts my thoughts.

"Okay, I'm gonna turn around so you can relax. You basically just have to think about being human until you're relaxed enough to phase back." She tells me. I nod, even though her back is to me. She tosses a tshirt and pair of sweatpants over her shoulder. "When you're back, you can put these on."

I sit down, thinking human thoughts. I have no idea how this is supposed to work, but I'm hoping I get the hang of it soon. I decide that yoga might help me relax, and let me tell you... a coyote doing yoga must be a pretty funny sight. Especially because there are only a few positions I can actually do.

Eventually, I feel myself transform back into a person, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

"You good?" Leah asks me, not turning around. I pull on the clothes as I answer.

"Yeah. Thanks." I go to sit next to her on the ground and say nothing.

"It's pretty bizarre, isn't it." She says after awhile.

"Yeah, I thought I'd like it more than I did." I sigh.

"You knew?" She asked, puzzled.

"Knew what?"

"That you could phase? You'd thought about it?"

"Well, no. I just thought the running super fast thing would be cool. But I'm so small that I can't really run as fast as you guys." I tell her. She shrugs.

"It's not bad. You'll get the hang of it. It's easier after the first time." She stands up, and I follow. "You're hungry, I bet."

"Yeah, starving." I tell her, realizing now how hungry I am. She walks back in the direction of the house with me trailing behind her.

"Emily always has food. I have patrol, so I'll see you later. I won't tell the boys." She says, anticipating my request. I thank her and she leaves me just outside of the treeline, right by the house. Emily comes out and beckons me in.

I take a deep breath. I guess this is my life now.

XxxxX

 **Sooo... what do you think? I read a fic awhile back that had coyote shapeshifters from another tribe and thought it was really cool. I'd tag the original author of that one, but I haven't been able to find the fic again.. If you know which one I'm talking about, please lmk!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was a lot harder to write since I don't really know what it would be like to be an animal, so if you have suggestions, definitely leave me a review:)**


	8. Chapter 8 - dad

**This chapter is significantly longer than intended, sorry about that. We're finally getting into the action, I'm super excited! There's a lot of action coming soon for this story. Let me know what you think of the direction it's taking in your review!**

I had to force myself to not say anything about transforming into an animal to my dad that night. I tell him pretty much everything, and when your boyfriend(?) turns into a wolf, that's one thing. But when you yourself turn into a coyote?

I have no idea what to do. So instead of freaking out, I try to ignore it. Maybe it was just a bad dream.

I do my yoga, I do my homework, I eat and sleep and clean.

That was yesterday, now it's Monday, and I have to be in school all day.

In my head, I know that Sam, Leah and Emily are the only ones who know I'm... a shapeshifter. But I overthink everyone's glances at me, wondering if they've somehow figured it out.

This is ridiculous.

I sit with Kim and Shayna at lunch again, and the boys are as loud as they always are. Since I'm sitting between the girls, Hisaka understands that I need space and sits at the other end of the table. I feel bad that I've been pushing him away, but really, he's kind of abrasive.

After lunch, Kim runs up behind me and speaks in a whisper.

"Hey, are you and Hisaka good? You guys have been really weird lately."

"Yeah, I know." I tell her, trailing off when I realize I don't have any reasonable thing to tell her.

"You _know_? What's going on? He's your soulmate, you guys should be all over each other!" She protests. I am at the end of my rope with her, Hisaka and this whole thing. I stop walking and look at her.

"Yeah, I _should_ be a lot of things but right now, that's just not how it is. I get that you and Jared were making eyes at each other from across the classroom before he imprinted on you, but I just met Hisaka. Like a week ago. I just met all of you. And then he visits my bedroom at night, gets my phone number somehow, shows up at my house to hang out unannounced and talks to my dad? I'm not ready for that, I'm going through... a lot of other changes in my life, and this is way faster than it would be in any other universe. So stop telling me what SHOULD happen. I'll figure out what WILL happen on my own!" I take a deep breath as I finish my rant. Kim's eyes are tearing up, and she lunges forward to give me a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry, Kaliska, I'll back off!" She promises, sniffling. I don't know what's in her water, but I pull out of the hug to avoid it wearing off on me.

"Thanks." I tell her, shrugging my backpack onto my shoulder and walking in the direction of my next class.

xXx

"Dad?" I put my pencil down and wait for my dad to look at me. His glasses sit far down on his nose and he knocks them up higher with his knuckle.

"What's going on, peanut?" He asks, giving me a smile. I can't help but smile back. Then I remember what I have to tell him and get serious again.

"I have something I need to tell you. It's real bad." I whisper. My heart is pounding out of my chest as I wipe my sweaty hands on my jeans.

"You know you can tell me anything," he frowns slightly. I nod.

"I know. But you're gonna think I'm insane. Like, batshit crazy. And maybe I am crazy."

"Just tell me what happened."

I squeeze my eyes closed and say it in a rush.

"My native genes make me transform into a coyote and I need to drive back down to Miwok and talk to my uncle about it." I take a deep breath.

My dad is staring at me, trying to figure out how to respond.

"What?"

I try to think of an easier place to start. The boys aren't really werewolves, they're shapeshifters, so that's off... Vampires. Everyone knows vampires.

"Vampires are real. I saw one in the woods the other day." I told him, figuring that was an easy place to start.

"Sweetheart, I have no idea what you're talking about. Vampires don't exist, I don't know what you saw but it wasn't a vampire."

"You know Bella's fiance, Edward? He's a vampire. That's why they don't have any pictures of him in their house." I say, pulling out my phone. I call Bella as my dad continues to stare at me.

"Hello, Kaliska?" I hear Bella's voice on the line, and I put it on speaker.

"Hey Bella. I know this is gonna sound weird but can you just tell me, is Edward a vampire? I know about the wolves." I ask. I can hear Bella and a male voice whispering in the background, and she finally answers me.

"Yeah, Edward is a vampire."

"Thanks, I'll talk to you later." I tell her, and hang up. My dad's mouth is hanging open. I quickly jump back in. "Don't worry, he doesn't drink people blood, just animal blood. I can explain later."

"Kaliska, what's going on?"

"I can turn into a coyote, I'd show you, but I don't know how to do it on purpose. I did it the other day when I saw the vampire and ran away from her. I just... I think my uncle might be able to tell me more. Can I go to Miwok?"

He ran his hand over his face.

"I don't have a problem with you going, but I can't take time off work yet, and I don't want you going by yourself. Do you have a friend you can take?"

I bit my lip to contain my excitement at seeing my uncle and Miwok friends again.

"I'll ask around and let you know. Thanks, Dad. I know this is really weird."

"Yeah, it is really weird, and I wanna hear the whole story. What wolves?" He asks, looking concerned.

"I, uh... I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed. They're the good guys though. Them and Edward's family. I mean honestly, his name is the first clue. Who names their kid Edward these days?" I mumble, more to myself than to him.

"I'm going to talk to Charlie, too." He says, moving to get up.

"No!" I grab his arm before he can get his phone. "You're not supposed to know. Don't tell anyone, please?" I beg him, and he sighs.

"Okay. I trust you know what you're doing. I won't say anything," he promised. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Dad. For everything." I tell him.

"I want you to be careful, I don't know what's going on and I can't help you."

"I know. I know people that can help me. I'll keep you posted." I promise, grabbing my homework and heading up to my room to see who could go with me.

I flopped down on my bed and grabbed my phone.

Hisaka? No, I don't want to spend that much time with him. Kim and Shayna are out of the question, they're both human. Leah... Leah is a possibility. But I don't know how to get ahold of her. I open a message to Shayna.

Me: Hey Shayna! Do you have Leah's number?

I kept thinking about the situation as I waited for Shayna to text me back. If I can leave tomorrow and head straight down there, we could make it in just a couple of days. I've heard the wolves can run as fast as cars, but I'm not sure for how long. I'd have to ask her. My phone buzzed.

Shayna: contact attached

Shayna: u good?

Me: thx

Me: yeah, just need to ask her for a favor

Shayna: good luck with that

I grimaced. Leah may not be my first choice to spend time with, but she is the best choice for this trip. I don't know many of the wolves, but I definitely don't want to go with Hisaka, and that pretty much leaves Leah.

I hear a knock on the door downstairs, and my dad answers it. I send a quick text to Leah seeing if she'd be okay with running down there with me, get off my bed and go to see who is here.

"Bella?" I ask, seeing the back of my cousin's head. She turns around.

"Oh hey Kaliska. I'm actually here to talk to you." She says, moving to come upstairs. She stops when I continue down them.

"We can talk down here." I tell her, glancing at my dad. He thumbs the pages of his book awkwardly, staring at the floor. Bella looks at him.

"Okay, I just wanted to talk about your call earlier?" She hinted, raising her eyebrows. I nod.

"Is Edward here?" I ask. Her eyes dart towards the door before she speaks.

"No, he's with his family this evening." She lies, sucking in a breath as I walk towards the front door.

"Edward?" I call into the dark. Edward steps around his car to meet my gaze, walking towards the house. I look back at Bella, who shrugs.

"Look, I'm not gonna keep this from my dad. I don't like lying and it freaks me out to keep secrets." I tell them both, and my dad looks proud.

"This is not just about you." Edward tells me softly, and I squint up into his eyes.

"You sure you should be here? You haven't eaten in awhile." I tell him. He looks back down at me.

"How- Bella..." He looks at his fiancee in annoyance. "You gave her those books?"

"Yeah, I figured she's going to be on the res..." Bella trails off, and Edward looks back at me.

"Don't worry about me, I haven't tasted human blood in decades."

At this, my dad whips his head to look at Edward.

"So you actually are a vampire?" He looks shocked. Edward nods. "Prove it."

With a sigh, Edward grabs the letter opener sitting on the coffee table and 'stabs' himself with it, resulting in nothing but the sound of metal hitting stone. He puts the letter opener back down and shrugs.

"I don't know what else you want me to do. I can read your mind right now. Yeah, I know you were reading page 52 of that book when Bella knocked on the door. Socrates, right?"

My poor dad nods nervously.

"No, I'm not going to kill Bella, Charlie, you or your daughter." Edward promises, going up to Bella and wrapping his arm around her gently. "They'll be safe with me around."

"Okay..." My dad nods again, processing everything.

"What else did you need to talk about?" I prompt, and Bella looks at me again.

"You can't just go around telling people that vampires exist." Edward tells me, and I frown at him.

"It's not 'people,' it's my dad. Didn't you guys tell Charlie?" I accuse, surprised when both of them shake their heads.

"How do you explain... him?" I ask. Edward barely looks human, and definitely not 18 or 19 or however old he says he is.

"We don't. He hasn't questioned it." Edward tells me.

"Whatever, I'm still not keeping secrets from my dad. I don't want to get grounded because I have to run away to figure this out." I tell them with finality. "I'm going to Miwok to talk to my family about this, I'll see you guys when I get back."

With that, I go back up to my room and sit back down on my bed. I check my phone, seeing two new messages from Leah.

Leah: i wouldn't mind, but can't leave the res for awhile. working a new job and don't wanna lose it

Leah: ask ches

Chesmu?

I stare at the message. Hisaka is my imprint slash boyfriend, but I'm really not a huge fan of him. He kinda sucks.

Chesmu is actually pretty great, we've had a good time hanging out, and he gave me a ride back to my house after the bonfire. My phone buzzed again.

Leah: attached contact

I texted back an 'okay thanks' to Leah, and opened Chesmu's contact.

Me: hey Chesmu? this is Kaliska

I hit send, and my leg bounced up and down as I waited for him to text back. About a minute later, he responded.

Chesmu: hey! yeah, this is Chesmu. What's up?

Me: can you come meet me at my house? I have a huge favor to ask you..

Chesmu: yeah sure

Chesmu: beating people up is off the table tho

Me: haha

Me: no it's not beating people up.

I put my phone in my pocket, grabbed a hoodie and went outside, climbing the fence to leave my yard. I sat down to wait for him.

"Hey Kaliska, you okay?"

I jumped when I heard his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Just.. well, I have a secret to tell you." I fiddled with my hoodie strings as I tried to find the words.

"No worries," he sat down against the fence next to me. "What's going on?"

"You were in the pack chasing the vampire, right?"

"Yeah, I was. Did Hisaka tell you about that?"

"No, I was there." I tell him, but he just looks more confused. "Did you see what she was chasing?"

"The coyote? Yeah, I saw it. What about it?"

"That was me. I'm a shapeshifter, too."

He's quiet for a minute.

"Okay, that's pretty dope, right? You cool?"

"Well, I mean... I kinda thought it would be cool to be a spirit warrior... but I'm such a tiny animal, that doesn't really seem like an option. I can't even run that fast." I admit, shrugging at my latent disappointment in my spirit's choice of animal.

"But still, like shifting into any other form is pretty cool, like it can be fun. And running on all fours is way better than running as a human." He puts his hand on my shoulder, giving it a little shake. "You're part of a very small group of people that can shapeshift. No matter what you phase into, it's still dope."

I have to smile. He takes his hand off my shoulder and stands up.

"C'mon, I'll take you on one of my favorite runs. You'll see how cool it is."

I stand up too.

"Problem is... I don't know how to..." I gesture with my hands. "Phase." I admit.

"Oh, that's chill. It takes awhile to get used to moving back and forth between person and animal. You'll get the hang of it."

"That's kinda what my favor is about. I was wondering if..." It seems like such a ridiculous request now, but he just smiles at me, waiting for me to ask. "Well, I wanted to go visit Miwok, where I'm from, and talk to my uncle about all this. I think he might be able to help me."

"Gotcha. Yeah, I'm down. How far is it?"

"Over 960 miles." I make a face. "Wow, nevermind. That's way to far." I mumble to myself. What was I thinking?

"Hey, wait, that's not too crazy. We could do that in a couple of days, like run for a few hours, stop and chill, run a few more... It's definitely doable."

"Really?" I ask, a grin coming onto my face. "And you wouldn't mind missing school?"

"School? Nah, all the wolves can take time off for 'work related activities'" He uses airquotes and winks at me. I smile.

"Okay, cool. So like... leave tomorrow morning?" I ask hesitantly. Chesmu shrugs.

"Yeah sure, that's cool with me. Like 8?"

"Yeah, 8 is perfect." I grin, getting way too excited for this.

"Alright, I'll come back here to pick you up around then. Anything else you wanna talk about?" He asks, his hands moving to his waist as he got ready to strip down and phase.

"Nope, I think that's it. I'll text you if I think of anything else." I promise, moving towards where I climb the fence.

"Awesome, I'll see you in the morning then." He smiles, walking into the woods. I think of something right before he disappears.

"Oh, Chesmu?" He turns back towards me. "Don't tell Hisaka?"

"Of course not." He smiles, holding up his right hand. I smile back at him, waving. He walks away into the night, taking off his shirt right before he's out of sight.

Being a shapeshifter might not be so bad after all.

 **Bella, being Bella, had written notes in her Quileute books that she lent to Kaliska, which is how she knew about the eye color thing on Edward. I'm not sure if the rest of the Cullens will make an appearance in this story, but we'll see! What do you think of Ches and Leah? I like Leah being less bitchy overall since she's actually a pretty cool person a lot of the time in the books. Leave a review with your thoughts, I'm always open to suggestions!**


	9. Chapter 9 - leaving

**I'm excited about the next few chapters, I think they'll be a lot of fun! As always, let me know what you think in the review section:)**

Chesmu and I were set to leave for California early the next morning. My dad called the school to tell them I had to get my appendix removed and would be out for the next couple of weeks. This gave us plenty of time to go down to Miwok and visit my uncle without having to rush. Ches had given some kind of excuse to his teachers, who had immediately excused him after a brief call to the tribe counsel. I had been avoiding Hisaka for awhile, and I let his calls go to voicemail all night. Undoubtedly, he'd found out we were taking off and was butthurt. With all the packing I had to do, I had neither time nor patience to deal with his whining ass. I could apologize after we got back if he was still pissed.

It was Sam whose call surprised me the most.

"H-hello?" I stammered, not knowing what he could possibly want with me.

"Hello Kaliska, this is Sam Uley." He told me, although I already knew. Emily had given me his number awhile ago in case I had another situation that I would need his help with.

"Hi Sam, what's up?" I asked nervously. He cleared his throat.

"I hear you're planning a trip down to California with one of my wolves."

"Yeah, that's true."

"I won't stop you, I just want to warn you. When two imprints get geographically far away from each other, it can be quite painful for them both. I just wanted to let you know so you'd be prepared. I don't know how it'll affect you since you're not just human, but there it is, do what you think is best. I've already let Hisaka know so he's prepared if he gets sudden sharp pains, it's not his period."

I want to laugh at the idea of Hisaka with period cramps, but I answer Sam seriously.

"Thanks for telling me, I'm still gonna go."

"That's fine, I'll see you when you get back."

With that, he hung up. I looked at my phone. 13 missed calls from my 'boyfriend.' I shrugged. Oh well, he can wait.

I packed as many clothes as I could fit in my backpack - who knows if I'd be shredding my clothes up by phasing at random times. I decided to skip packing socks and bras completely, since neither one made a big difference to me, and I needed all the room I could spare for tshirts and shorts. My phone rang again, and I almost sent it to voicemail automatically when I saw the name. Chesmu.

"Hey, almost ready?" I answer.

"Hell yeah! This is going to be great, we're going to California!" He sounded like he was in high spirits, making me smile.

"Yeah we are, you excited?"

"Oh yeah baby, I'm heading over to your place now to pick you up. Be there in 5. Seeya!"

I didn't get a chance to say bye before he'd hung up and presumably headed out. I stuff my phone and charger into my backpack as well, the last of my stuff. I went down the stairs, excited at the prospect of seeing my family again. My dad came up to me, a few things in his hands.

"Hey peanut, I wanna give you a few things just to be on the safe side. I know you have a young man going along with you for your safety, but I think it would be good for you to have these anyway." He held the items out for me to take, and I examined them one by one.

First item was a small taser gun. My eyes lit up - I'd always thought having a taser would be cool. He also included a whistle, less cool but still useful, and a preloaded credit card.

"There's $1,500 on there, should be more than enough to cover food and hotels if you need them. I trust you to be smart about what you spend it on." He tells me, and I smile. This is a big step up from the couple hundred I have available with my debit card. I give him a hug.

"Thank you so much, Dad. I'll be very careful." I promise, my face pressed against his shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you too, Kaliska. Come back to me safe and sound, okay?" He pulls away, holding me at arm's length to look at my face. I nod at him right as there is a knock at the door. He hugs me one more time before we move to the front room to open it.

"Hi, Chesmu, right?" Dad says.

"That's me! Don't worry, sir, I'll take great care of your daughter and make sure she gets back here in one piece." He promises, echoing my dad's words, which he no doubt heard. My dad holds his hand out to shake Ches's, and my friend looks honored.

"You'd better, I'm a cop you know, so I carry." He teases - or warns.

"Yes sir." Chesmu says, and I roll my eyes.

"Okay, time to go!" I clap my hands and move past my dad out the front door. "Bye dad, I'll call you when I can, okay?"

"Stay safe, peanut!" He calls after us as I grab Chesmu's wrist to pull him towards the woods across the street.

"He seems nice." Chesmu jokes as we enter the treeline.

"Yeah, he's great. Okay, you're driving, right?" I tease, securing my backpack on my shoulders as Chesmu pulls his shirt over his head.

"You bet, just hop on and hold on tight." He grins, moving out of my sight to finish stripping. In a second, I hear his big paws heading my way, so I get a running start and jump up onto his back. Wolf-Ches snorts, looking back at me. I lean forward and wrap my arms around his furry neck.

"Okay, I'm on. Let's go!" I say, patting his shoulder.

He starts off at a brisk trot, gradually picking up the pace until I have to close my eyes so the air doesn't burn them as we pass. I don't mind, though. Flying through the trees like this is great, and I enjoy the first several hours of it. Eventually, though, Chesmu needs a break, so when he starts to slow down, I tell him it's time for a nap and some food - he readily agrees.

By that point, we'd gone about halfway down the Washington coast. He comes to a stop in a clearing in the woods and I jump down. I keep my back to him for a minute as he phases back.

"Okay, I'm decent. Whew!" He walks around, stretching. "Haven't had a good run like that in a while. Feels good." He tells me. His stomach betrays him with a growl. He claps a hand over it, looking at me sheepishly.

"Want some food?" I offer, gesturing across the road at the McDonald's. He grins at me, pulling a shirt on and stepping into flip flops.

"Sounds great, let's go!"

xXx

Seven burgers (two for me and five for him), four large fries and three refills apiece later, we left the awestruck Golden Arches, ready to continue on our trip. I'd brought the last few fries in my container out of the store and was tossing them into his open mouth as we crossed the street to the clearing.

"I gotta say, McDonald's doesn't deserve all the hate on the food, it's not bad." He comments, chewing the last of the fries. I agreed with him vaguely, checking my phone for the first time since we'd left my house.

"Hisaka keeps calling me." I frown, even though by now, he should know we've already left. Chesmu comes over to look over my shoulder at the screen.

"Wonder what his goal is. I didn't think he'd miss you, you guys don't hang out a lot. You don't even come up in his brain much." He admits quietly. This doesn't really surprise me. "He's kind of a sucky imprint, if you ask me."

"Well, he's the one I'm stuck with." I sigh. "Maybe he'll grow out of it." I add, although my voice doesn't convey much hope in that idea.

He strips down again and I climb up onto his back again. We continue heading south along the coast towards Miwok, and I can just feel my family getting closer.

 **Follow the story to get a notification about when I update next! Also don't forget to leave me a review with your thoughts about this chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10 - road trip

**It's been awhile, but here's the next chapter of their adventure! Be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think of the story!**

It wasn't long before we entered Portland, Oregon. Chesmu had been running for about 3-4 hours at a time, then we'd stop, eat and rest for as long as we'd been going. It wasn't the most efficient travel method, but we couldn't really afford anything else.

Anytime we came across a town, we'd look for a McDonalds or Starbucks to use their wifi and outlets to charge our phones. We also had to find places that were open during weird times of the night, since we didn't really follow a sleep schedule for now. Ches had taken a few power naps here and there while I scrolled through what my friends posted online.

"Hey, Ches, everyone at school thinks we eloped." I showed him my phone as he packs his stuff up before we head back out. He grabs it, grinning.

"Well that's something we'll have to deal with when we get back. I wonder what Hisaka thinks of that." He laughs. I roll my eyes.

"To be honest, I haven't given him a whole lot of thought."

We hit the road again, making good time out of Portland and across the border into California.

When we stopped off again for a break, I looked through the receipts from all the food we'd bought.

"I think we can afford a hotel tonight." I tell him. He's been running this whole time as a favor for me, the least I can do is give him a solid night's sleep. We'd been gone for just over a day now, and so far, neither of us had gotten much sleep.

"A hotel? Won't that be expensive? We're in the middle of nowhere."

"Mount Shasta is a tourist spot. We can walk there if you're tired, it's probably an hour or so walk. And from the hotels I've found online, it shouldn't be more than $150 or so." I assure him. I feel perfectly comfortable spending a night with Chesmu in a hotel, he knows I'm more or less off the market, and I know he wouldn't be able to get away with making a move, since the entire wolf pack would know pretty quickly with their whole mind meld thing.

"Alright, it's your money. I sure could use a good night's sleep." He yawned, and I found a hotel to book, dialing the number to see if they had rooms available.

"Hi, I'm coming into town later today, do you have any hotel rooms available?" I ask the receptionist. She mentions I should've booked in advance to guarantee a room. "Oh, I know, and I'm so sorry about that. We weren't planning on stopping, but we had some uh... car troubles, so here we are!" I fake a cheerful explanation, shrugging when Chesmu looked like he wanted to laugh.

"Wonderful, thank you so much!" I tell her, hanging up. "What?" I finally look over at my companion.

"Car troubles? Won't it be a little suspicious when we show up without a car?"

"Exactly, our car broke down and we're walking into town while we wait for it to get fixed."

"Why woudln't we have a tow truck drive us there?" He points out, laughing.

"I don't know, I don't know how these things work, okay?" I roll my eyes, realizing my story may be a little fishier than I thought. "Either way, it's none of their business. We're paying customers. She said they should have enough rooms to give us one, but it's still first-come-first-serve without a deposit."

We joke around for the rest of the walk. It's nice to be able to talk to someone instead of just silently hanging on while he runs.

We've covered around 600 miles in about a day and a half by the time we get to the hotel. We look awful, my hair is a mess and we smell like we haven't bathed in forever, which we haven't. A shower and bed will be welcome.

The hotel is able to give us a room with two twin beds, and Chesmu and I high five as we walk to our door.

"Ladies first." He says when we're inside, gesturing to the bathroom.

"No, you go ahead. You've run several hundred miles, you smell way worse." I tease, giving him a shove towards the shower.

"Oh and here I thought you were being courteous." He teases, closing the door.

I make myself comfortable on the bed by the window while I wait. My phone is plugged in and charging, and my feet welcome the reprieve.

The world outside the window feels closer to my home than I've felt in awhile. I love La Push, but it's still a bizarre little town with tons of secrets.

Chesmu comes back out, wearing a new tshirt and cutoff shorts.

"It's all yours." He gestures with his head. I hop up, grabbing my bag and going in.

The steam on the mirror has a creepy looking clown face drawn onto it, and I roll my eyes at my friend as I unpack my things.

All I brought was many changes of clothes and a toothbrush, although so far I haven't used it. My mouth feels disgusting, but I haven't felt the urge to brush my teeth in a dirty McDonald's bathroom.

I sit down on the toilet to pee, dismayed to find a spot of blood in my underwear. I smack my forehead. With everything going on, I didn't realize my period was due.

And I have no pads.

Well, this will be embarrassing. I redress myself and open the door again.

"Hey so... This is super awkward, but I just got my period and I don't have anything with me." I tell Chesmu. I can feel my face heat up as I talk, but he doesn't look surprised.

"Yeah, I didn't wanna say anything." He tossed his phone down, getting up. "If you give me the card, I'll go pick some up. There's a shop downstairs, they probably have some."

"Really? I was gonna go myself, but that would be great!" I step back into the bathroom to grab the credit card from my backpack. "Get anything you want while you're there." I tell him, tossing the card.

"With pleasure." He grins, putting his flip flops back on. He's about to open the door when I think about what he said.

"Wait, what did you mean, you didn't wanna say anything?"

"Wolf nose, I smelled blood. Figured it was girl stuff since you didn't look wounded." He shrugs, and I'm surprised that he knew, but I didn't.

"Huh. Okay, thanks again!" I say as he leaves.

15 minutes later, I'm in the shower, fresh clothes sitting with a box of pads on the sink. Chesmu, I'm sure, is snacking on the five or six bags of trail mix and chips he'd grabbed from the shop downstairs. I was surprised at how relaxed he was about the ordeal, but then again, Kim is his sister and it's likely he's picked up pads for her before.

I got out of the shower, drying off and brushing my teeth. I scrunched up my nose at the choice of sleepwear non-period me had picked out - leggings. I put on the longest shirt I brought and the offending leggings, putting my hair up in a towel to keep from dripping everywhere.

"Nice place here, cheap but homey." Chesmu remarked as he flipped through the tv channels.

"Not bad for $129 and short notice." I agree.

It was pretty early in the evening, so I sat on my bed again, watching him channel surf.

I must've dozed off, because when I woke up again, it was dark, and Chesmu was snoring in the next bed over. I got up to put my towel into the bathroom, then went to bed and fell back asleep.

I woke up again to the sound of my alarm, which I'd forgotten to turn off. It was 5:30am, and fortunately, Ches had not woken up. I didn't think I'd be able to get back to sleep, so I moved to the floor to do some morning yoga. This also helps ease my cramps, which is an added perk.

About halfway through my routine, Chesmu rolled over, and I looked over to see him looking at me strangely.

"Yoga?"

"Mhm. Every morning." I confirm. He rolls out of bed, heading to the bathroom. "You slept in jeans?"

"Only brought jeans, I didn't think we'd get a hotel." He answered before closing the door.

I guess that makes sense. Another perk of the hotel is the free breakfast, which unfortunately doesn't open until 7. I check my phone to see that we still have over an hour until then.

"Teach me how." He comes out of the bathroom, sitting down facing me. I frown, confused.

"Teach you what?"

"Yoga. I'm sore from all the running, it would probably help."

Of course he is, that much running couldn't have been easy.

"Oh, yeah, sure. I do the same thing every morning, so uh, I'll show you that."

Starting from the beginning, I walk Ches through my routine. He grasps everything pretty quickly, but makes a lot of noise when his muscles stretch out. I try not to laugh at his facial expressions, since he's in this situation doing a massive favor for me.

"And that's it." I unfold my hands from around my knee, moving to stand up, and he follows suit.

"Huh, yeah, that did the trick. I feel way better."

"Perfect timing too, breakfast opens in 10 minutes."

I get changed and we head downstairs.

Breakfast is simple but hearty, and after eating junk food for the last several meals, the fresh food is welcome.

We plan to hang around the hotel for a few more hours, since the checkout deadline is 11 and it's not even 8. We might as well rest up before hitting the road again. The next few hours are spent watching daytime tv and making fun of the plotlines, and we nearly forget to leave when 11 gets close.

"Well, it was a great experience, Shasta Inn. Maybe we'll see you on the trip back up." Ches salutes as we walk away. I laugh.

We walk out to a clearing, Ches phasing and me on his back again, we continue the journey.

I can tell Ches has been refreshed by our stay in Shasta, and I make a note to get a hotel more often on the way back up. Now that we've gotten used to the rhythm of our travels, I think the trip back will be much easier. Plus, if everything goes according to plan, I'll be able to run back up myself. I may end up slowing us down some, but that would be better than riding Ches back. Not only is it extra weight for him, it's not a very pleasant long trip experience for me.

Once we're back on the road, we settle into our previous routine, 3 hours of running, 3 hours of rest. Each stop, I pull up a map, studying it for names and landmarks to watch for as we get closer to our destination. I don't yet recognize our surroundings, but the weather and landscape are getting more familiar all the time.

Just after 8pm on Thursday night, I finally spot a sign proudly proclaiming we're in Miwok territory now.

I'm home.


End file.
